Harry Reeder - Pastor, Teacher, and Friend
In July 2014, the Lord led our family to Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. We were at a time of transition as a family. Although I had many years of full-time ministry under my belt, the Lord, in His providence, had taken me down a sidetrack in life to work in the banking industry. At about seven years in, I was carrying an enormous burden to be back in full-time ministry. The Lord had just sent us out from a church family that we dearly loved, and we thought He was about to send us into my second chapter in full-time ministry, but that was still to be delayed for a time.
↓ Don’t miss the hymn in Harry’s honor (below) ↓
Harry was the lead pastor of Briarwood and I was immediately drawn to him. My ministry history allowed me to work with many churches and to get to know many pastors around the country, but there was something different about Harry. If you don’t know, Briarwood is a large church, the flagship of the Presbyterian Church in America. In all my experience with pastors of larger churches, I never saw one operate as Harry did. Honestly, I’ve never met any pastor (or non-pastor for that matter) who was anything like Harry. He truly was one of a kind.
The first time we went to lunch, I gave him a CD of a song that Stephanie and I had written (I Will Glory In The Cross). I didn’t know if he’d even listen to it, and I wasn’t sure if it was any good. The following Sunday during the welcome time, he came off the platform and walked straight to me. I got nervous thinking, “Is he coming to me?” He proceeded right to me and told me that he loved the song. I was elated. I’m reminded of Proverbs 25:11, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” That moment, and especially his encouragement to me, lit a spark.
When I was younger I was in full-time vocational ministry as a traveling worship leader, and I wrote songs constantly. It was how I spent so much of my time. But the Lord had taken me through a difficult journey, moving me out of full-time ministry. When we came to Briarwood, I had been out of full-time ministry for about eight years. I had not been writing songs for many years, and I was struggling with what the Lord was doing and not doing. I was in need of the Lord to bring some restoration for ministry and encouragement. (For more on this — The LIVEGLAD Story)
When Harry encouraged me that Sunday morning, it brought a renewal and my desire and passion for writing was reborn. Stephanie and I began to spend much time writing together and the Lord began to bless. During our time at Briarwood, we wrote a number of songs. When I had something new, I would record a demo and email it to Harry. He would look over the lyrics and give me a thumbs up or make suggestions as needed if he thought they might need clarity or adjustment biblically. I don’t have the words to tell you the gift this was to me.
Because of the favor Harry gave us and our music, the church family began to encourage us also, inviting us to sing and lead worship at different gatherings and events. We wrote a song for the school to sing in honor of first responders, and we were given the privilege to sing it with the school choir (Be Strong). One of the highlights for us, was having the church sing another one of our songs during the commitment time for the Missions Conference.
With each of the songs we wrote during this time period, I can trace many of the lyrics back to different messages or message series that Harry taught. A few times, the inspiration was something Harry might say often. For instance, he so often mentioned the fact that Jesus fulfilled the office of Prophet, Priest, and King. Eventually, we decided that we needed to write a song about that. Prophet, Priest, and King has been one of our most well-received songs.
Sung by Rinnah, my youngest, with our worship team at First Baptist Glencoe.
At one point he invited me to come to his office to go through the Trinity hymnal. From my Baptist background, I was not as familiar with the popular Presbyterian hymns. We sat for well over an hour as he thumbed through the hymnal singing me the most well-known hymns so I could get familiar with them. That special meeting will be something I treasure for the rest of my life.
When I was a young man traveling full-time as an itinerant worship leader, I was a member of another large church. I was young and longing for a mentor. I had connected with the pastor a few times for lunch and one on one meetings, and I had specifically asked him if he’d be willing to mentor me. My request landed with a big thud, never hearing back from him again. That has always been a painful wound. Unfortunately, this kind of separateness is how I had witnessed many a pastor and others in ministry behave. For years I wanted an older more experienced person in ministry to invest in me, but I kept running into dead ends.
In Harry, I found something I had needed for many years, and the wonderful thing was, he offered this voluntarily and proactively. It was evident that something was different when he remembered my name. I was shocked, it was a five thousand-member church and he remembered my name. Not only that, he remembered the names of all our family. As I watched, he was calling each person by name. Yes, you’re hearing that correctly. It is obvious if you knew Harry or had heard him preach, he had a superior mind. He could remember more than the average person. But this is not the why behind him knowing names. He worked at it. He wanted to know everyone’s name. I watched him before services and during the welcome time as he walked up to person after person and genuinely engaged with them. He knew things going on in their life, recent prayer needs, job situations, family issues, etc… He worked at it because he had a pastor’s heart. He was the extraordinary one-in-a-million gifted on both sides of the coin — great preacher AND great pastor.
In Harry, I found something I had needed for many years, and the wonderful thing was, he offered this voluntarily and proactively.
I am grieved that the Lord has taken Harry home, but it has helped me to remember and reflect on the wonderful gift the Lord gave me through him. For those few years, the Lord had us at Briarwood and had me under the influence of Harry, God did a work. He blessed me and used this special man of God to help solidify my thinking and approach to ministry, worship, writing songs for the Lord and His Church, and so much more.
Harry's Hymn - "Your Glory is the Reason"
My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude that I was able to know such a loving, gracious, and gifted servant of the Lord who chose to be a friend to me. It was only fitting, that I should seek to write a hymn to honor the significant work of God through his life and ministry.
Harry would not want accolades or praise. In all he did, it was so evident that his motive was for Jesus to be glorified. So the theme of this hymn is the glory of God. My hope was to honor the commitment that Harry modeled, a life surrendered to the glory of God in everything. He didn’t just say these words, he lived it. Anyone who watched would know he was genuine and that the song of his heart was the glory of his Savior.
YOUR GLORY IS THE REASON…
